“We hold that there is no clearly established law holding that a student in a public secondary school has a privacy right under the Fourteenth Amendment that precludes school officials from discussing with a parent * * * matters relating to sexual activity of the student.” So holds the majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in a ruling issued today.

“Court won’t hear NC teeth-whitening challenge”: The Associated Press has this report.

Triangle Business Journal reports that “N.C. dental board loses legal battle with teeth whiteners.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.

And in related coverage, last Sunday’s edition of The New York Times contained an article headlined “A Clash Over Who Is Allowed to Give You a Brighter Smile.”

“Minnesota Supreme Court creates ‘loss of chance’ doctrine in malpractice law”: The Associated Press has this report on a ruling that the Supreme Court of Minnesota issued today.

“Supreme Court considers public meetings and prayer; Port Huron council starts with invocation”: The Times Herald of Port Huron, Michigan has this report.

“Farmers: Supreme Court decision on Monsanto seed patent won’t affect them.” Today’s edition of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review contains an article that begins, “Many Western Pennsylvania farmers say a U.S. Supreme Court decision that protected an agricultural company’s patent on its herbicide-resistant seeds is unlikely to affect them or their crops.”

“Veteran justice’s retirement is end of an era for state Supreme Court; Justice Paul Anderson retires today after two decades on the state’s high court, where he took part in groundbreaking decisions”: This article appears today in The Minneapolis Star Tribune.

“Future of voting rights at stake before Supreme Court”: NBC News justice correspondent Pete Williams has this report.

“What SCOTUS Might Do In The Big Affirmative Action Case”: Sahil Kapur of TPM DC has this report.

“Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Own Your Power’ Trademark Win Overturned”: Bloomberg News has this report.

Erin Geiger Smith of Reuters has a report headlined “Oprah must face lawsuit over ‘Own Your Power’ — appeals court.”

And at the “Hollywood, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Oprah Winfrey Must Once Again Defend ‘Own Your Power’ Lawsuit; An appeals court has revived a trademark claim against the media queen.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit at this link.

In his opinion concurring in the result, Senior Circuit Judge Robert D. Sack writes: “Allowing a person or entity’s property right arbitrarily to trump the ability of the initiator of a communication effectively to transmit news, information, thoughts, and the like, using vernacular words and phrases that are recognizable because they are also used as trademarks, would be, in my view, legally unwarranted and 99 and 44/100 percent foolish.”

“Court upholds convictions of New York airport bomb plotters”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today.

“5th Circuit: Employers can’t fire women because they want to use breast pumps.” At the “Tex Parte Blog” of Texas Lawyer, John Council has this post today reporting on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued yesterday.

“Alumni, Eisgruber ’83 evaluate state of judicial confirmation process”: The Daily Princetonian has this report.

“Prenda Law, the Porn Copyright Trolls: Unraveling a lucrative, multistate shakedown that ensnared thousands of men.” Claire Suddath of Bloomberg Businessweek has this lengthy report.

“Stanford professor: State qui tam actions could be answer to Concepcion.” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report.

“Scalia on the Judiciary and Economic Liberty”: Josh Blackman has this post today at his blog.

“Abortion Fight Is Unique To Georgia; ACLU’s case against Georgia’s 20-week ban is based on state privacy rights, unlike U.S. ruling against Arizona law”: Kathleen Baydala Joyner of the Daily Report of Fulton County, Georgia has this article.

“How to judge the Supreme Court’s upcoming equality rulings”: David Gans and Doug Kendall have this post today at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

“U.S. appeals court revives British mogul’s EMI lawsuit”: Jonathan Stempel of Reuters has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today.

Update: In other coverage, The Associated Press reports that “NY court overturns Citigroup-EMI verdict.”

And at the “Hollywood, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Citigroup’s Handling of EMI Music Sale Ordered to New Trial; An appeals court vacates a 2010 jury verdict that let the financial giant off the hook for allegedly misrepresenting bidding during an auction.”

“The Congress decided that challenges to [the Federal Election Campaign Act’s] constitutionality belong in the en banc courts of appeals to the exclusion of all other tribunals.” If you aren’t aware that Congress has mandated that a certain type of constitutional challenge can only be heard and decided by federal appellate courts sitting en banc, then you might want to take a look at a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued today.

Update: In other coverage, at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Jenna Greene has a post titled “Campaign Donation Case to Get En Banc Review.”

“Court upholds Obama border-state gun-sale reporting”: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has this blog post reporting on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued today.

Update: In other coverage, David Ingram of Reuters reports that “Court allows rule designed to find bulk rifle sales.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Court backs border-state gun sale reporting rule.”

“Court-packing in GOP dreams only”: Columnist Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post has this op-ed.

“Illinois Lawmakers Race for Compromise on Guns”: Today’s edition of The New York Times contains this article.

“Universities Show Uneven Efforts in Enrolling Poor”: This front page article appears today in The New York Times.

And online at Slate, Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger has a jurisprudence essay titled “The Real Mismatch: The Supreme Court should not force universities to trade affirmative action for socioeconomic diversity; Schools can have both.”

“Lancaster Co. Mennonite company in court over birth control mandate”: Central Pennsylvania’s FOX43 has this report on an appeal argued yesterday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. When the oral argument audio becomes available online, I will link to it.

“The high cost of snipe hunts”: Senior U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf has this post at his blog, “Hercules and the Umpire.”

“Retired Justice warns against ‘politicians in robes'”: Today’s edition of The Chicago Tribune contains an article that begins, “Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor made a plea for preserving the impartiality and independence of the American judicial system in a lecture Thursday at Elmhurst College.”

Additional information on yesterday’s event can be accessed here.

“The Supreme Court Revisits a Religious Lemon; Town-board meetings traditionally started with a prayer; Then someone complained”: Law professor David Skeel has this op-ed today in The Wall Street Journal.

“Gay rights cases could trail Obama in Africa”: The Associated Press has this report.